"Grah!" Jeremiah smashed his hand against the bacheca of his shower, slamming the tile off of it. He had been taken out of a hallucination where his hands were functional and he was a king of sorts, wearing an armor made of ebony and gold. He now was back in reality, where his hair was long, grey and his beard ragged and curly. Still he found the urge to clean, having his first mission since he was crippled and knowing in the morning he'd feel at least useful again.

"The phone?" Jeremiah asked as he looked from his shower, eyes wide from his episode he had been in and clearly unhinged. He walked out from the doccia leaving the water still running as he went to his tavolo and grabbed his rotary phone, holding it up to his ear as he kept his mouth shut.

"Is this Jeremiah?" A quiet, sweet voice that sounded soft and caring from the telephone said.

"This...this is. Who is this?" Jeremiah asked as his cuore rate went down, breathing out a bit.

"Cornelia Viktoria." She spoke out over the phone, smiling a bit. "I finally found a way to contact you."

"You..you did?" Jeremiah asked with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm great, raising our beautiful daughter. Would te like to talk to her?"

"Well...I..."' He seemed Lost for words. "What is her name?"

"JEREMIAH."

"What?"

"JEREMIAH WAKE UP!"

Jeremiah was jolted awake da a member of his unit, Cassidy Cain who was a spearman. "You're late for morning formation."

"Fuck!" Jeremiah detto as he got up, holding his hands to his head and gritting his teeth, enraged at himself before flinging his hands down. "Why are te still in here then? Let me get ready!" He yelled out.

Kaito stood in front of the formation holding a cigarette in his mouth, having already smoked four as they were laying in front of him on the ground. "He's going to make me devote half my paycheck to cigarettes if this keeps up." Kaito grumbled as Cassidy came out. "Cain, where is that cripple?"

"Getting ready in the back sir." Cassidy detto as she fell back into formation.

"Fuck." Kaito grumbled out as he finished his fifth cigarette. "Did he lose his legs too?" He asked himself in a whisper, looking over at every one. There was Cassidy Cain, the red haired Irish girl that was a pretty good spearman from nowhere. Erika Ludren the outsider beast girl berserker, Gareth Weber the archer who was a hunter, Vincent Wagner the heavy armored knight that was a stable boy and Ella Kruger, the mute who's tongue had been ripped out da beasts that was the assassin of the group. Then Jeremiah walked out, wearing his glistening suit of silver armor and having his sword at his side- his gauntlets off to give his hands più mobility. "Lord Jeremiah Knobloch, how good of te to unisciti us? Was your rest well my lord? Do te need a cup of tè and a biscotto perhaps as we, dirty peasants go and have a sojourn in the Hohenzollern castle?"

"No, Captain Kuhn." Jeremih detto as he fell into formation.

"Well then the rest have been filled in. Hohenzollern is filled with beasts to the brim so we'll need to use diversionary tactics to lure them out." Kaito detto before whistling. "Everyone, to your cars."

~~~~~~~~

"Father, why must we mingle with the British?" Jeremiah asked his father. "Why? They are disgusting."

"Politics my son. We must mingle with them to survive." His father spoke out quietly.

"Why is mother German and I must marry the fat ugly girl from Britain? She does not even speak German!" Jeremiah yelled out. "I do not want it!"

"I do not care!" Jeremiah's father Adelbrecht swatted his son across the face. "We must be with people we dislike to survive! We are not invincible, we must make do!"

~~~~~~~

"Mother, why is father so angry to me but not Wilhelmina?" Jeremiah asked his mother with a whisper.

"Your father had much to take on when he inherited our house- it was falling apart. te have to be ready to take his place when he is gone, so that te may rise our house to even greater places."

"I want to be better than our house mother." Jeremiah detto as he reached up to touch her smeraldo green dress. "I want something better. To be emperor of not Germany but the world."

His mother laughed, placing her hand on his chest. "Oh Jeremiah, do not fool yourself. We haven't had an emperor on the trono since the turn of the century- emperor of the world is quite a step up. Perhaps your son could be emperor, o his son but...Jeremiah, sometimes te cannot get things so easily."

"Yes te can." Jeremiah smiled. "You can take them. Not make do."

~~~~~~~

Jeremiah leaned his head against the window of the vehicle they were in, looking out as he felt sickly from not taking care of himself. He had difficulty finding the will to eat these days and even getting out of letto had been a hassle- training was out of the domanda for him. He knew they were getting close as they'd gotten above the clouds surrounding the mountain the castello was built on and were now approaching the road which spiraled into the castle. Kaito stopped the vehicle, parking it and exiting the car to look at the castle, which had it's gate for the outer tower caved outward, as if a massive beast came through it.

"This was where I grew up." Jeremiah detto quietly, feeling his hand along the walls as he closed his eyes, remembering the final days of him being in the home. The beasts were closing in and they had to back up what they could, heading towards the city from an escape route built into the mountain. The beasts came from everywhere- everyone that didn't leave the castello died. He lead the others up through the first tower to the secondo one which had the same fate, entering the courtyard which was completely covered red and stinky from blood on the ground. It was then an earshrieking noise came out from a beast from the other side of the castello walls, jumping inoltrare, avanti with it's sharp claws and landing in front of Jeremiah- a massive black lucertola with a crown of red feathers and purple eyes. The chest and stomach of the lucertola was red as well and it was clean that some venom was with it's saliva as it smiled- the lizards saliva green while it licked it's chops.

"The scion of Hohenzollern- how long I've waited for one of your kind to return." The lucertola hissed out, opening its mouth wide and roaring at Jeremiah who stood in front of him.

Jeremiah grit his teeth, remembering this monster as being the one that sieged his home when he was a child. "It good then that te stayed, for te have grown comfortable in your grave. I, Lord Jeremiah Anshelm Emmerich Knobloch von Hohenzollern, the first of his name, slayer of the beast known as Estille and countless others condemn you, foul beast to die!"

"Then it is te who will have came to be buried!" The beast hissed, lunging to bite Jeremiah who merely side stepped and slashed it across the face hard enough to drawn blood.

"Faster perhaps!" Jeremiah barked out before the beast began to sposta faster at him. While walking backwards he swung his sword forward, taking chunks out from it's head and tongue in a flourish and defensively keeping the acidic venom off him, slightly rusting his blade right there before he found himself backed up to a wall. He kicked the beast right on the superiore, in alto of it's head as it came inoltrare, avanti to butt him before it then swung inoltrare, avanti towards his body. He ducked and went to his side, running with his sword as Kaito and Vincent came with him. "Where are the others?!"

"Diversionary tactics. We have come to aid you!" Vincent proclaimed while holding his claymore.

"Fools! te will die with the Hohenzollern!" The lucertola hissed out, letting out a screech and having it's feathers flare up. "The games are over, time to die!" It's fangs began to charge with electricity as well as it's feathers as it then had it's sacks expand on it's sides, filling up with energy before it came to attack Vincent with an electrically charged attack.

Kaito jumped and blocked it- the energy from his sword slashing against it's charged talons keeping Kaito suspended in air as it warped the air around them for a second.

"What is this power!?" The beast asked as Kaito shoved it back with the force on Jenny, landing down on his feet as his blade lit afire.

Kaito kept quiet as he always did in battle, simply breathing in before he began to charge forward, signaling the other two to fight. The beast filled it's electric sacks again, shooting out a beam at Vincent who smacked it with the flat end of his sword, deflecting it into a building and melting the entire front of his greatsword as well as making the front of his casco turn black.

Jeremiah screamed out as he slashed the beast's thigh open, causing it to begin to spurt out acidic blood into his armor and catching his hand, causing his already injured hands to begin to flare up. He screamed louder, slashing up and causing the acid to hit his helmet, beginning to rust it and as he hit an artery, beginning to cause it to dissolve from it's lower quality of metal. The beast began to fall down on that side as Kaito too began to attack it's leg, recharging another electrical strike.

"Hohenzollern!" The beast screeched as it when to let out one final blast but was cut off as Vincent shoved his half left of his blade into the beasts heart, causing the energy forming at the front of his cuore to dissipate and the acid to begin to stop burning.

"Good job boys." Kaito detto before breathing out, looking around. "'No beasts, they must be successful. Let's go- Jeremiah are te aware of where the gem of darkness is?"

"Yes." Jeremiah detto before turning. "This way."

Jeremiah led them through and into an empty castle, which had most of it's furnishings destroyed from beasts and it's beautiful painting on the walls, of oro and white and red and other vibrant colori ruined, peeling off the walls. He looked at his hands- red and peeling and shook his head, glad at that moment he couldn't feel much as he entered his fathers study.

"Wait outside." Kaito detto to Vincent.

"Yes sir." Vincent detto with a knod, standing guard before Kaito followed behind Jeremiah who moved a painting off the wall, pressing his thumb on a biometric lock whick revealed the gem of darkness and the crown of Hohenzollern.

"Kaito, why do te want this?" Jeremiah asked while holding the collana in his hand- the necklaces almost oozing beastly energy.

"Secretive business. Give me the gem Jeremiah." Kaito walked over, sick of the games with the boy as he stood in front of him.

"No!...No, I can't. This is from my family, the last of the heirlooms we have left- I cannot, I will not." Jeremiah grit his teeth as Kaito grabbed the chain of the collana to take it.

"Give it to me now o I'll kill te for treason." Kaito spoke out through his teeth before snatching the gem, tearing the chain and breathing out.

"I'll kill you!" Jeremiah detto before pushing Kaito back.

"That's it!" Kaito detto while stuffing the gem in his cartella, satchel before pulling out his blade, slashing Jeremiah in the face as Jeremiah jumped back, having it go through his left cheek as he screamed, pulling out his blade and swinging only to be parried as he headed to the door, having the blade shoved through his stomach before he fell back down.

"What is going on?!" Vincent asked, distracting Kaito as Jeremiah got up and ran as fast as he could.

"He pulled his blade on me." Kaito felt a knick on his cheek where blood was. "We must kill him- he's too dangerous to be kept alive."

Jeremiah limped down the halls of where he was born, pausing for a moment as he heard them try to find where he was. He looked forward, seeing the biblioteca in front of him. The hall was lit da the mosaico glass windows- dust seen floating in the air as the light illuminated the still beautiful blue and oro tiles. He looked down and saw his blood spilled on it, letting out a quiet breath as he walked into the library. It was still as beautiful as he remembered it as a child- the priests teaching them of god, the scholars teaching them how to read and to do arithmetic. He might as well have grown up in there- as fitting as a place to die as any. He looked towards a candle still lit, wondering how could it have survived. He placed his hand on it- tears streaming down his face while he pushed in and suddenly an opening came successivo to it. A mural of a dark haired man with yellow eyes and a long, slender and pointed face holding out something in his hands- a book on a pedestal. As blood began gushing più out from the book he grabbed the book, feeling an instant shock up his spine as he read the letters written in blood which were in a language he could not understand.

"What have te wanted?" A woman in a black shroud asked him as he jolted up, backing out from the indentation in the wall.

"What has this world done to you?" A man wearing a dark mantello resembling the man in the mural said.

"Don't te wish for more?" The woman asked.

"You deserve more." The man whispered out, the whispers sounding as if they were in his ears as he backed up. He then looked down as the book, hearing the footsteps down the hall as he could read now.

"When I was once afraid, I now feel anger." Blood dripped down from his cheek onto the book, falling down to his knees pale. "When I was weak, I am now strong. I was once broken, I am now shattered. I am one, we are many." He dropped the book down, blood gushing from his stomach down onto it as his head knocked back and his eyes went white. The woman successivo to him pulled her shroud down, revealing a woman he'd never met and the man pulled his mantello down, revealing the man of the mural.

"Cistal..."

"We are the chosen ones of him."

"I am his son."

"I am his lover."

"We will pass down the torch of him. We had everything taken from us, we know the pain."

"You carry down a lineage of darkness. Embrace it."

"Take what te want, strike fear into those that laughed as te were helpless."

"You were once weak."

"But together."

"We"

"Are"

"The"

"Many"

"We"

"Are"

"Power!"

Jeremiah gasped as he awoke- his eyes yellow and his hair black. He stood up from his knees from his puddle of his own blood, the book gone. He was standing much taller and più powerful than imaginable. His jet black hair was down to his back and his once dirty and unshaven face was clean down, revealing Jeremiah's long and pale face. He had two small ebony and oro horns coming from his head and his armor was of the same material, pointed and metal with scales on the arms between the pauldrons and the gauntlets as well as clothing coming down from his hips that covered his plated legs- his sabatons pointed and oro at the tips as well as his greaves behind oro plated at the knees. He had the same ornamented sword, restored perfectly with the metal now so sharp that it could cut through anything.

Kaito ran down the hall, stopping in his tracks while Vincent continued charging ahead. "No!" Kaito screamed.

"What are you?!" Vincent screamed, gasping as he took off his casco to looks at Jeremiah.

"I'm Cistal Rose, lord of the beasts!" Jeremiah barked out as he grabbed Vincent da the head, spreading darkness across his veins as he corrupted him, turning him into the first knight thrall of his, donning black armor with spikes inside to remind the thrall of pain. Their eyes were yellow with the whites now black and their hair had fallen out- the thrall looking dead as it's skin turned grey and teeth jagged.

Kaito heard the sound of feet behind him, knowing the rest of his unit was close. "No!" Kaito barked out. "Class A-" Jeremiah swung at Kaito and Kaito blocked, gritting his teeth as Jeremiah's power had increased to such Unbelievable amounts that Jenny had a chip form as Jeremiah slid his blade forward, blocking the clinch and stabbing him in the collarbone. "Run!" He warned the others as Jeremiah kicked Kaito, making him fly back onto his back as Jeremiah continued to advance forward, gritting his teeth and screaming as he swung his sword down, being blocked da Jenny.

"You'll die worm!" Jeremiah screamed out. "I'll take what I want now!"

"And what is that?!" Kaito asked as he kicked Jeremiah in the leg, making him step back as he rolled and got back up.

"Everything!" Jeremiah slashed Jenny away, slamming it into the bacheca before he slashed down and cut Kaito across the chest three times, taking his entire armor off before slamming his sword into his stomach, holding him up before slamming Kaito down into the ground with it. He then pulled his sword out, looking up at the rest of the unit that had appeared before him, grinning especially at Erika as Kaito's blood dripped off of the tip of his longsword.

Kaito reached out at Erika, crawling inoltrare, avanti before Jeremiah smirked, stomping down on his achilles heel and breaking his foot, causing him to scream in agony before Jeremiah took his foot off. "Perhaps I'll make him truly understand pain as I force him to watch me slaughter the men and rape the women."

Vincent walked to his side, holding a zwei hander made of ebony and gold, cackling a bit. "Yes my lord."

"Good, Vincent here agrees. Who shall I pick first, hmm?" Jeremiah held out one finger, pointing at Erika. "You, beast girl. I'll ravage te for good times sake, since te seem to prefer the beasts anyways." He detto with a grin, positioning himself now to a battle stance.